In the Wake of the PlagueThe Black Death and the

World it MadeNorman F. Cantor

Content

• Biomedical • Social • Historical/ other

Biomedical ContentCurrent Knowledge

• 14th century• Killed about 1/3 of Europe’s population• “exterminating of humanity”• Carried on rats

Spread through trade

Combination of Diseases • Anthrax

Fast death (3 or 4 days) spread by undercooked meat, anthrax spores

• Bubonic Plague High death probability Spread by fleas or rodents, aerosols, pneumonia 3 stages

o first stage: flulike symptomso Second stage: black welts or bulgeso Pneumonia or death

• Jewish Conspiracy Poisoning wells Burnt Jews

Social Content• Consequences are class polarization,

social dislocations, capital accumulations and threatened stability

• Loss of laborers (decline of serfdom, rise of yeoman)

• Inflation• Death of leaders • Religion

Historical beliefs• Modern hypotheses

Cosmic dust causing outbreaks• Mystical superstitions

serpents, natural disasters

Aftermath

• Millions of dead bodies• Gave surviving women more independence • Labor shortages (decline of serfdom)• Economy • Art